The
Indus plains were once covered with thick forests. Faiza
Hasan and Rina Saeed Khan report on
community based efforts in Jhangar Valley to conserve the remaining
pockets of forests in the Salt Range

The
Indus plains were once covered with thick forests and wildlife like
elephants, rhinoceros, wild sheep and leopards. It was no wonder, then,
that this area was the favourite hunting grounds of the Mughal emperors
– now all that is left of their rule are crumbling monuments and
hunting lodges that are strewn all over the plains. The years have also
changed the face of this land as the population increased and forests
gave way to farmlands. Then, in the 19th century, an extensive
irrigation canal system was introduced by the British colonialists to
help the local farmers. The canals benefited the farmers but they
sounded the death knell to the scrub forests.

These
forests are now reduced to small pockets of areas in the Salt Range like
the Jhangar Valley. Jhangar lies to the south east of Islamabad in the
Chakwal district of Punjab. The people of this region depend on small
sized farms (around 2 acres) to grow local rain-fed varieties of wheat,
maize and barley (which don’t need pesticides) for household and
community use. Most of their real income comes from service in the
Pakistan Armed Forces – almost every household in the area has at
least one member serving in the army. The Jhangar forest is spread over
3,053 hectares and includes forty different species of trees, shrubs and
herbs, thirty-one species of birds, sixteen mammals and a large number
of reptiles and insects. The indigenous Punjab Urial, the common leopard
and the peafowl, which are all endangered species, are also found in
this region.

Besides
increased agricultural activity, the other factor that has changed
Jhangar was the discovery of minerals and ores in the region. This led
to extensive blasting and coal mining, with no regard to the destruction
of indigenous vegetation. These coal-mines, numbering more than a
hundred, are privately owned, but the land is leased from the government’s
Forest Department or from the local community. They are a source of
considerable revenue for both the government and the local community, so
it is difficult to control their activities. Also, a nearby cement
factory called Gharibwal Cement collects raw material (gypsum, clay,
limestone) from Jhangar Valley. The recently privatised cement factory
buys land from the area and destroys the forests by blasting for raw
materials. The dust particles released by the factory also settle on the
leaves of the plants in the area, blocking their transpiration process.
Although the factory employs local villagers and is hence a source of
income in the valley, it has disturbed the habitat of the wildlife and
eroded the fertile land.

A
rapidly increasing population dependent on fuel wood has been a further
cause of extensive logging, while unchecked grazing by domestic
livestock belonging to the roaming nomads and the villagers themselves
has resulted in the overuse of the forests. In addition, poaching was
also reducing the region’s wildlife. The different nomads or Bakarwal,
who would arrive in the valley from across the province or from Azad
Kashmir on a seasonal basis, would settle in the valley for 5-6 months
at a stretch. They would pay the locals for access to their forests. The
nomads would then set up their camps and damage the trees in their quest
for fuel. They would also graze their goats, sheep and cows in the area,
destroying the vegetation.

The
Jhangar scrub forest would have completely disappeared if the WWF-Pakistan
hadn’t stepped in. WWF is one of the world’s largest independent
environmental conservation organisations. In 1992-93, WWF surveyed the
vanishing ecological resources of Pakistan, one of which was the Jhangar
scrub forest. This particular scrub forest gained special significance
when the organisation discovered its wide variety of trees and animals.
The area was also discovered to be ecologically important because of the
Punjab Urial, an internationally recognised endangered mountain sheep
endemic to the Salt Range. With the disappearing scrub forests and
uncontrolled hunting, the Urial faced every danger of being wiped off
the face of the earth. There are today an estimated 25-30 Punjab Urial
living in Jhangar Valley.

During
their research, WWF also discovered that Jhangar occupies a unique
position. The government owns most of the protected forests in Pakistan,
but 60% of the Jhangar forest is Shamilat or owned by the community.
This meant that instead of government sponsored action to save the
valley from destruction, the Jhangar community itself would have to act
to protect their forests. Community members were first gathered to
visualise the disaster of indiscriminate woodcutting on their way of
life. WWF contacted influential local teachers and village elders and
explained how mining, over grazing and cutting was exhausting their
soil. The fear that the land may not be able to support their future
generations geared the villagers into action.

To help
mobilise the communities for joint action, village organisations were
formed that went on to make a community based organisation called the
Jhangar Valley Conservation and Development Committee (JVCDC). A field
office to house the JVCDC was set up in January 1998 in the village of
Basharat, the largest village in the area. There are a total of 16
villages in Jhangar – out of these, 13 have formed village
organisations. 20 representatives from these villages serve as voluntary
members of the JVCDC (including one female member). These are mostly
activists of the area – school-teachers, social workers and community
leaders. The Vice-President of the JVCDC is Fazal Rehman, the
head-master of the local government boy’s high-school. He has been
very active from the beginning in motivating his community and the youth
of the area. He also plays the role of mediator in any disputes that
erupt in Jhangar.

The JVCDC’s
strength lies in the fact that it takes local decisions and is able to
implement them. For instance, in 1999 the local community decided to
impose a ban on these nomads. The JVCDC ensured that the nomads would be
stopped at the entrance to the valley – they are no longer allowed
into Jhangar. JVCDC is also motivating the District Administration to
put pressure on Gharibwal Cement to restrict its area of activities. It
has also motivated the people to stop the government from selling
reserve forest area to the factory.

WWF-Pakistan
also has its own staff working in the area – Aamir Saeed Khan is the
Conservation Officer who has been working in the region since 1996. He
explains “WWF plays the role of the facilitator, providing the
expertise while the locals provide the manpower”. The WWF, whose
office is located in Choa Saidan Shah, the district headquarters,
organises nature clubs and supports other environmental educational
activities like celebrating “Earth Day”. It also provides training
and capacity building activities to the local community, helping to
raise awareness in the area. When the JVCDC needed financial assistance,
the WWF contacted the UNDP’s GEF/SGP and with its funding, work was
started to save the valley and rehabilitate the forest. Soon the
government’s Forest Department developed an interest in the area and
helped by providing seeds and saplings for the replanting of
fast-growing trees like Acacia, Ailanthus, Ipleiple and Sheesham. Since
the Forest Department owned 40% of the Jhangar forest, they had a real
stake in protecting the forest’s future.

But the
tree plantation was not enough to save the valley. As an alternative
means of livelihood, the villagers started growing high yield varieties
of wheat and fodder for their animals. This eased the pressure from the
forest, pockets of which were left untouched to grow and rejuvenate.
Work is currently underway to spread the use of fuel-efficient stoves in
the area, which will cut down the pressure on the forest. These stoves
failed to make an impact initially, but were reintroduced after
considerable redesigning of the stove. The fuel-efficient stoves are now
helping to reduce the pressure on the forest, and WWF provides training
for the implementation and use of the new technology to the local women.
The farmers are also thinking of ways of using their forest without
damaging it, like extracting and selling wild honey.

As the
Jhangar project grew, it attracted an unconventional partner, the Power
Company AES. Since industrial production releases damaging carbon
emission into the atmosphere, AES’s mandate requires investment in “carbon
sink” forestation activities like the Jhangar project. The AES
provided funding to plant around 10,000 trees in Jhangar from 1998-99.
Another partner in the project is a Japanese environmental NGO, the KNCF
(Keidanren Nature Conservation Fund), which funded another phase of the
Jhangar project. Around 11, 144 plants have been added through this
grant which was for 1999-2000.

Jhangar
is a good example for the government and the nation of how effective
local action can save the land. The community has planted more than
20,000 trees since 1994 and developed locally owned nurseries. 609 fruit
trees have also been planted for income generation purposes. In the past
two years, the community has successfully controlled the cutting of
trees in the forest. The JVCDC monitors all these activities and fines
local villagers from disobeying the ban on cutting in the protected
areas. The organisation also helps identify interested groups who are
willing to participate in protecting their land. The JVCDC initiates
dialogue with these groups and after several meetings and consultations,
during which they are told about the benefits of protecting their land,
an agreement is formulated. The locals then sign this formal agreement
and declare a portion of their land as a protected area. Explains Dr
Ejaz Ahmed, the Deputy Director General of WWF-Pakistan who is in charge
of the Jhangar Valley project, “although this is not a legal and
binding document, the locals follow it because they have given their
word. Jhangar is still a traditional area and people tend to keep their
promises”.

Today,
875.25 hectares (around 48 percent) of Jhangar’s Shamilat land is a
protected area where the trees and animals are safe from harm. The
people of Jhangar Valley have now set a precedent in the country by
declaring their own protected areas. Though it will take several years
for the ecological and economical benefits of the tree plantation to
become visible, for now the community is willing to patiently keep on
working. Under the mentoring role of the WWF and help from UNDP, the
Jhangar community is planing to grow into a full-fledged community based
organisation with a vision to save their ancestral lands for their
future generations.

Credits:

This
article is an excerpt from the book ‘Green Pioneers’, edited by
Mehjabeen Abidi-Habib and published for the UNDP in 2002, price Rs
675. Available from City Press, Karachi (http://www.citypress.cc/)